Thank you for doing this video. I have a new found respect for you and your approach. Civilized conversations and respect for others opinions has definitely been lost on social media lately. Would love you to do more content like this.
The whole war issue aside, this really shows the true motives. I nearly choked on my coffee when he mentioned blackbox data on the blockchain. Clearly the folks at the top have absolutely no idea what they’re doing other than riding new hype waves and trying to get rich.
"Entrepreneurs" sniffing around for profit, I remember the early quadcopter scene was full of them, myself included. Seems to happen whenever academic research produces novel scientific understanding and the world's collective war economies produce an overabundance some new commodity (smartphone components in this case). You've probably noticed a few cycles of this recently, now that it occurs so rapidly. Block chain, IoT and now AI... it's kinda boring isn't it? New blood gets absorbed by employment, but they never end up owning anything other than toys and trinkets; bribes. The investor class sucks all their wealth right back up without us even noticing, and our names are left on all the new loans. Each of these things is just another line to snort for them, then they start chopping up the next one. We can't keep allowing this to go on. Engineers and Academics have the choice to stop this. Don't submit to being employed like this. Do something on your own accord, for your own people.
Thank you for presenting this. Peoples lives are more important than profit. "The collapse of the American economy, at least we got bandos!" ... this is gross. You are a human before you are an FPV pilot. Drew says he is the master of his own destiny... so then he chose the side of profiteering warmongers and that is how he will be remembered. RotorRiot doesn't need this to survive, RedCat does... because 'defense' is their livelihood. Using the term 'defense' for these companies is whitewashing what it really is, WAR... to make the masses more accepting and let's the officers and board members sleep at night. Dax: "its too lucrative for companies not to, to ensure the health of a company"... what about the health of a person murdered by one of your weapons in the name of your stockholders margins? Quit giving exceptions for the almighty dollar that doesn't even trickle down. The entire purpose of waging war is profit. Drew has sold his humanity for profit.Yes, it is naive to think this mindset will ruin the FPV hobby... This mindset is actually ruining the entire world. And then he brings it all into focus and closes with tease of their newest cool product followed by an inevitable plea for people to gamble on his stock and give more money to the billionaire stockholders... you don't need to pay your rent, just keep feeding the inescapable machine.
Right on... If an institution no longer has a good purpose for being or moral identity, close it! Find something else to do. The FPV Community doesn't need it's own NRA. Kids can learn STEM without training on weaponry of war, or watching an armament corporation's grooming media. Take the cartoon camel off the box of cigarettes, and mandate a warning label.
i mean like he said. you can boycott rr but where else are you going to get quad parts? and that company you chose, they are most likely supplying the war as well
@@leoponce82ponce I'm 100% with you, but you're going to need to boycott a lot more than just FPV vendors once you start down this path. I hope you will, but if you live in The West, your toil goes towards maintaining empire whether you want it to or not. All you can do is minimize your contribution to "Moloch", as Schmachtenberger would put it. Good luck bro.
Watching a Hamas soldier dying today with Israeli military drones around - F everything about this move and Rotor Riot. It's so scummy. "everything is related to war" that's like saying "you are using a macbook, so you support child labour for lithium". Capitalism at it's finest from an American FPV company. Sickening.
My opinion is this. For example Toyota. They make cars. Many of their cars is used in war. But they didn't advertise their cars to be combat suitable or similar. So it is purely responsibility of people who initiated the war for using Toyota cars in combats. Same goes for all FPV manufacturers. They didn't developed and manufactured their gear to be used in war. But people are doing it. Totally different thing is if something is advertised and sold as a lethal machine. That's just my opinion.
I am going to be honest, I didn't "grow up" in FPV watching all these companies that are also doing it. RR took me from "What is FPV" to "This is a really fun, but expensive, hobby." I also don't like the argument that "everyone else is doing it, so killing people is OK." If Sesame Street started selling people the means to kill people, I would be like WTF. I understand that this is a corporation, and corporations only care about profit. This is not how it started. This is a major move from "A cool skate board company" to "I will do anything, including murder, to make a profit."
Wow, that's perfectly put! That's exactly why it felt so dirty and underhanded, especially after the original 4 dudes were usurped. This is no different than childhood indoctrination by the NRA, or perhaps just one of many gun manufacturers making children's outreach content to get them interested in buying their product, and then selling their mailing list to the U.S. Military for targeted recruitment. We're probably all on a list now, whether RR knows it or not. Maybe we just shouldn't have an NRA of "tactical" (anti-personnel) drone weaponry. They can sell their weapons all they want, just shutter the kiddie channel on UA-cam and embrace the new owners they're beholden to.
@@TrickyFPV420 By forcing governments to actually back their own chosen allies with real military hardware instead of toys with grenades taped to them?
Imagine not having your own fleet ready to go when the enemy invades your backyard because the USA can’t figure its leadership shit out, when our options are “weekend at Bernie’s” or the rich guy from “Home Alone” who grabs women by the pussy… not to mention DEI-fueled incompetent military and infrastructure. The USA has never been weaker, more divided, less threatening, and our adversaries know it. Go build your own fleet, in fact I agree with you… this is a wild ass time. Get ready.
@@jdmjdmjdmjdmjdmjdmjdm Not really. Selling drugs only benefits the drug dealers. Selling products used for a nation's defense mostly helps the nation buying the equipment. War is just something that has always happened and will always happen.
@@CarbonGlassMan "has / will always happen" is the exact psychology drug dealers must internalize to cope with their own lack of moral fortitude. You've basically deeply insulted Drew and everyone involved with RR, as if they can't possibly ever know or do any better. You're depriving them of any expectation of possessing free will to make up their own moral mind about this. This story isn't over yet, and they know plenty of us think better of them. Everybody makes mistakes, but can you recover from them is the challenge on offer here, to all of us... humanity as a whole even. Nothing is inevitable.
Such a great video! Loved seeing a human conversation and not a one sided beat down. Can’t wait to see more interviews in the future I love this content style!
My question is how are these companies are going to stand up and support the fpv hobby when the government steps in and politically says these are all weapons? Are you just gonna set back and let it go down the drain or actually get out of your chair and go to congress and say these are the reasons why we need to let civilians fly drones and they are not all weapons? Trigger, devices, drop devices and military applications that are not available for the hobby is the clear key differences. If you are selling a normal fpv drone that is modified to cause harm to people is the problem. Some people think that this will cause the government to look at all fpv drones as weapons. Kinda like a armalite selling the ar15 and m16. They are all now seen as assault weapons.
I greatly appreciate this, Dax. You having Drew on and being open minded about his perspective was an excellent use of your platform and time. I think it's easy for us to sit back in our comfortable lives with our "first world problems" and judge. Taking a second to realize what Ukraine has done with FPV and seeing the difference they've made is incredible. The fear of losing our hobby is understandable, but this infighting on "I support their use/I don't support their use" is not going to help preserve the consumer/hobby side. Educating the public on what we do, leaning into the educational and STEM programs, and maintaining a strong and inviting community is how we keep our hobby. There is nothing that RR or any other company is going to do to scare the public or legislation into doing anything they weren't already going to do. Please educate yourself in global events. Get out of your bubble and open your eyes and mind.
there is no excuse for this the argument that others do it too is stupid as fuck if they use fpv for war that is one thing if you as a fpv company sell to millitary its another thing bubbys moxy frame is alrdy on red cats site rembranded as a precision strike drone named "the fang" they are building fpv drones for killing people now i cant be ok with this there is no excuse for this how about not doing that maybe?
. Seeing "the homies" turn into a big corporation isn't easy. While Drew isn't the best at choosing words, (really could use a PR person) moving to the next level takes what appears to be heartless decisions. Rotor riot isn't on a path to survival in its current state. What other choice do they have? Appeal to some people's morals and eventually go bankrupt and dissappear. Or make big business decisions and move forward. It will lead to innovations no doubt. But the hard truth in the defense sector is well.. we already know Personally I'm glad they are supporting American defense and not foreign. Keeping the tech and money at home. Which is a good thing no matter what you think about them. The question is.. do you want your favorite homie FPV shop to grow into a major corporation in America technology and business in a niche market.. or do you want them to stay small and eventually die out. It's not easy seeing it turn out this way, I get it. It doesn't appear they give a s___t about you, they need to care about surviving. Our hobby isn't what it used to be. Change sucks. Corporations and business of any kind just can't appeal to you personally. Or they won't survive. You cant run a business off of UA-cam videos with viewership dropping, in a hobby that has such a steep learning curve and lower interest than most. He is right about how to survive and thrive. Not to mention every single FPV company from DJI to iflight, even TBS is involved. Period. You can hide from it and scream over the truth all you want but it's true. Personally I hate seeing it but I understand and will continue to enjoy the hobby. Knowing my money will support American defense if I spend it at rotor riot instead of Russian or Chinese defense.. deff sounds more appealing to me. But damn I hate that defense and war is even involved. Rotor riot isn't the issue.. war is the issue. They are just following suite. Staying alive in a hobby that's hard to survive. What good is street cred if you have to close your doors.
I wholeheartedly disagree. What you've described is also referred to as "selling your soul" - its going against everything you believe in to make it work. Maybe the answer is - "it won't work". I'd rather see that than what we are seeing.
@TommyGFPV so you would rather they had said no, and went bankrupt and closed their doors, so they can stay virtuous? When every other product out there is contributing to the war? You selling all your gear and walking away from FPV to save YOUR soul? Sounds cool in a tweet but the reality of life doesn't work like that. Agree to disagree I guess. What I'm talking about is staying alive as a business in 2024.
@keithcarpenter5254 yep they sure do. Just as you have the choice not to support them. No one is obligated to do anything. Free market as you said. Just stating my opinion. Free market snd Free speech are both brought to you by war mongers
I don’t think it’s about street cred. It’s about doing what’s right and knowing you did that the end of the day, regardless of the consequences, even if that means shutting your business down. There’s plenty of other profitable businesss.
exactly. My issue isnt military use. It is selling out to corrupt oligarchy that funds literal Nazis... These guys are getting the kickback from our misused taxes...
@@miloschjovanovic that’s common knowledge just like that Russia was an ally of Nazi Germany in 1939 when they invaded Poland together. Your victory day and great patriotic war are a farce created by the Soviet propaganda machine.
Drew. Please understand I'm aware I don't know you, and you may be a very nice guy. If I was in your situation with your information I may make the same decisions you have. You are the face of Rotor Riot. For me the problem has always been there is something about you that is inherently unlikeable, more accurately my instincts say "don't trust that guy". I'm aware I have no basis for this opinion. You've said/done a few things over the years that weren't ideal but nothing truly bad but instincts tell me you would make compromises in life for the sake of comfort that I wouldn't be ok with. As an example... Many people buy Iphones even though they hear rumors about suicide nets on the factories that are ran like sweat shops, but my impression of you is, you may actually be ok with being a manager at one of those locations. You would likely have some fancy justification but in the end you could do that. Again this is just me putting words to my impression of you and has no basis in fact. If there is any truth to this (and only you would know) I would recommend doing some soul searching and making some changes. If not then chalk my statement up to some crazy person on the internet. I have always wondered though why people have such a negative impression of you when you haven't really done anything wrong and if possibly are they reacting to the same gut feeling I have. For me this is why I haven't trusted Rotor Riot, and it's been that way for maybe 4-5 years. Long before the Ukraine situation. As for drones in war. Drones are a tool. Blaming tools is pointless. The real focus should be on the leaders who created a situation. The land and the civilians would have been fine without the leaders and their questionable motivations. I wish you the best and hope my assessment is incorrect, I just wanted to let you know one persons perspective.
Damn. Yeah, kinda... but FPV is a bunch of people with affluenza, spending disposable income to entertain themselves. Our entire demographic is varying levels of sociopathy, provably! People with disposable income are usually pretty smart though, so we can often wise up after we're done being young and rudderless. He might surprise you yet. We all might. I just wish he had the sense to know about shell companies so he could do all this soul searching in private, lol.
The fidgety energy is deeply familiar. I was (un)lucky enough to have the right background at the right time and place to choose a lucrative life as part of the Military Industrial Complex, and I did so for a year. But I wasn't able to morally justify it to myself after a while. Being surrounded by people that have every typical excuse I tried to internalize, actually well-documented in these very comments, just wore on me until I was disgusted with the status quo, and my own pointless toiling to maintain a hegemony that objectively hastens extinction, generally. Not to mention actually spending my finite time away from loved ones and anything altruistic in order to submit to this frankly insane thing that is feeding off us. I realized I'd rather be possibly poor and happy, and that my ambition is easily converted from gaming earning potential, to direct learning potential. I'm lucky enough to know a few people that took philosophy seriously enough to have put me on to a thing or two, not to mention I've seen a lot of death up close. I hope these people find a way out of this ugly place in life, and realize that they can manifest a lot more than they realize if they choose something other than what's presented to them by business jackals. I've mastered 4 different career fields in my 40-sum years, and they all ended like this... surrounded by monstrous choices and morally blind people at their lonely top, trying to convince me to stay with them. I guess misery loves company, and owners love to flaunt their collection of intellects. Not everyone can abstain from the ease of submission. I was eventually able to... and I'm not special. I'm lucky.
I like Drew's "why am I being bothered with this" attitude! I also like how he dismiss his customers concerns with "c'mon, you must be naive, or stupid, if you don't know lots of companies work with the DOD". He is correct, but I don't have to shop/buy from those companies if don't like their business model. And his apples to oranges comparison of Tyler B. being an Air Force pilot, and owning RDQ, is just laughable. Tyler volunteered to be in the AF and then strapped on an F-15 and flew into combat! That's very different then selling items out of the comfort of your home or office. I do commend Drew for telling us he doesn't know, or care, how his products are being used as long as he and RR get paid. I really want to finish by saying something nice about Drew and RR, but between his statements and his attitude I don't think he helped himself with this interview.
Bro u have my respect. Trying to manufacture parts domestic shouldn't be something overlooked. Supplying American manufactured parts to us defense is heroic. Cheers and good luck. You have my support
@DawnHub666 we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The word "attack" was not in my comment. In a perfect world there wouldn't be a need for defense mechanisms of any kind. But unfortunately that's not the reality of our species.
@DawnHub666 I was merely stating my opinion. Your obviously triggered by this video. Agree to disagree. But for the sake of argument, I personally believe that any topic, sport, hobby, or entertainment source of any kind sparks a political rift in whatever it may be. This is a hobby. This is a bunch of people flying toys and having fun. The companies that provide us with these toys are not politically motivated. Calling for a boycott is cutting off your nose to spite your face. The majority of the parts that we use are from countries that would love to see us fail. The money that we use to by these parts goes indirectly to the very strength of those countries one way or another. So unless you would rather see a homegrown company fail for steering clear of a ridiculous political opinion, people should just mind their business about if it triggers their delicate political alignment.
This was a good, much needed talk. Thank you! I agree that it is always a good idea to set aside our emotions and talk things out reasonably so we can learn all the facts in order to form a better informed opinion. And whatever opinion, I think we can still act respectfully towards those with opposing views. I also feel that Drew was pretty transparent during this chat, and I appreciate that. Transparency is the best policy.
It started because of the promo video blatantly promoting an offensive drone, looking like most rotor riot builds. Components vs a bomb dropping thing is quite different in many people’s minds. And since rotor riot was a “cultural” thing and not just a parts company it hit hard. Don’t think of this as boycott. It’s mostly people not being able to buy with clear conscious.
I think the main concern is the overt mingling of hobby and military drones. Dji drones are mainly used for recon as well, not as fpv strike drones which is something new. DJI isn't directly supplying Russia or Ukraine as well like RR is. They might now though because this is an escalation.
Both sides have all the brands. That's the point; we always arm both sides. NATO / China gains profit, Russia and Ukraine loses life. Why would a hobby company want any part of this disgusting business?
Rotor Riot is willing to supply to the US government and other defense entities for any purpose. FPV provides a very precise method of payload delivery that will allow any of these defense entities a specific tactical advantage.
I think Kmart Fpv made the best criticism video about this. His main concern is Drew is a hero to a lot of us as an fpv pilot, to see him now become a defense contractor is pretty jarring. It brings up the questions of what is the future of the hobby, are we basically all just training to become strike pilots for some future war?
Well done Drew, I applaud you for coming forward and explaining your side of it. I agree with your stance on it. I think if people are going to have a problem with companies that are supplying drones and tech for war purposes then they better put there FPV drones up and find a new hobby. Cause it's going to be hard to find any drones or parts because there all into it to some extent. And I would say a lot of them are into it more than Rotor Riot, but nothing is getting said about them. And as far as people getting hurt or killed unfortunately that's just a casualty of war. It sucks and in a perfect world innocent people wouldn't get hurt or killed. But it's not a perfect world. To me it's better that an fpv drone might take out a 50 yd radius if it has to happen compared to a bomb taking out a few blocks.
Thanks for doing this. The conflict in Ukraine actually started in 2014. They got more aggressive in 2022 but they had been illegally occupying ukraine against the will of the people for 8 years already including building an illegal bridge from Russia straight into Crimea.
Drew said it’s the reverse that the defense would find the store than the other way around. That’s even worse in terms of people concerned with “blood money.”
I understand that business, does business...much like politicians will politic. On the other hand, Drew was once a well known FPV community member. Its tough to see someone so influential in our hobby, take a step towards what might be the demise of our beloved hobby, all in the quest for greater profits. I'm not sure I'd be so willing to perhaps be the front man, someone who many looked up to, taking that step which might throw us all under the bus. War is war, no matter how you phrase it. Perhaps you could use your position to highlight how important this hobby is to many of us (maybe even yourself included), rather than dipping your toe in the muddy water.
My only issue: If the defense and military deals/sells become the priority then you close the public or hobbyist doors. That will be a reason to have a detestable opinion on the company. If you don't, then there will never be a problem because it doesn't affect the individual. Don't want another CMW.
I have always thought of Rotor riot as the center of the community for hobbyist FPV maybe you should of stopped and thought of that before you made the choice to change it into a company known for military use product….. I think that’s what people are feeling. It’s not that you (sold out) but that you forgot who you represent.
@@DaxNealFPV well they were not a product company first it was a community based company. They have now muddied the waters between their community based channel and a product based company. I will still buy Rotor Riot gear and still be apart of the community they started but I feel uneasy about them representing the FPV community. Hope that makes sense.
One thing I think is interesting is how russia is drafting. In the US we have this idea that around the world if people want to be against a thing, (for example, take a stance against war) then they have the opportunity to do so. This is not really the case, and I would argue it might not remain the case here in the US. People think of the battlefield as nothing but people who are ok to kill. A lot of people on the battlefield don't really understand, don't want to be fighting, but also don't want to be killed for not fighting. Drones also give extra opportunity for two-way communication between combatants. It's another opportunity for someone to know they are in a position to surrender and do so. If they surrender too close to their own machine guns, they die, they have to wait until they are in a position to be captured, they have no choice, and drones increase the possibility of the drone pilot identifying someone who will surrender, and the range at which a surrender can occur. Here, we can protest, boycott, slander, but there are really people who's only hope is that their enemy on the battlefield will give them a chance to put their hands up when they're close enough that their own team won't kill them for it.
I respect Drew’s opinion. With that being said, I think if Rotor Riot did more to publicly protect the hobby then they wouldn’t be criticized to this level. JMO
Loved this interview with Drew, Well done, Dax! Excellent interview, many very interesting things came out, espescially interesting RR is coming with their own fc and esc - quite the scoop! 🙌😃 Also nice to have everything in clear text, helps defeat all the bs rumours in fpv. Keep doing what youre doing brother!
The new FC drop was planned as a distraction from the main topic. He even said that there is not enough money to be made from the FPV racing, cinematography and freestyle so they are now going to profit from war. He has no intention on moving our hobby forward. FPV recreational will only go further into the underground. I’ve watched this happen to most of my hobbies.
Finally a grownup conversation about this! As a European I can only be thankful for what Rotor Riot, Red Cat and Unusual Machines are doing to help our defenders fight this fucking evil that is russia! I used to look up to Botgrinder and agree with many things, but the guy showed his true colors - clicks, likes and atention is more important to him than survival and defence of people in danger of genocide.
BOT just has an overly simplistic world view of "war bad" but, he hasn't had a cruise missile hit his local hospital so maybe he just doesn't understand the sititiution of what's going on and who the people using these drones are.
@@thirtythreeeyes8624 You might be right, but it did hurt to see one of my biggest heroes show himself to be so naive and unsympathetic to what is happening...
@@TrickyFPV420 You got to think of this from both sides, all decisions are bad decisions in geopolitics. The trick is to make decisions that lead to the least harm. Sometimes, to avoid a global war, you have to create a smaller, slower war to drain power from an entity that is getting land-grabby. Moldova and Finland were already being staged in the exact same way as Ukraine was staged before invasion for an 'invade to protect RU separatists' operation, so it had to be clamped down on carefully without escalating the situation into glassing half of eastern Europe. On RotorRiot, You made Drew a 'hero' to you, you must accept that responsibility. Though honestly, his naivetey towards the reality of the conflict is maybe for the better, as you'd rather him saying yes to 'make a bunch of BNFs for the USM and think no further" than be someone who said yes to 'make drones designed to chase conscripted people into their own bunkers, begging for their lives to the DVR, and then detonate on them anyway. We don't mind bombs because they are impersonal, but when it comes to taking ownership for ending another person's life to protect your own, you would also do whatever you could. War is hell, no doubt about it, but conflicts like these become necessary to prevent even worse things escalating.
@@thirtythreeeyes8624 That's true. I recall him saying "kiII all cops" after the media started reporting about a white cop shooting a black guy armed with a knife. The war comes out in him when he thinks something he cares about is attacked. He did later say he was angry & apologized for saying it, but he said it. That thought actually entered his head.
I'm not against what rotor riot is doing but Betaflight and other open source projects in the HOBBY should prohibit their use in warfare or military applications.
I am sure all open sources are opposed to its use but there is no way to enforce it. My hope is and I feel confident that both sides are already working on better versions of open source firmware, which would lead to them no longer using ours.
I appreciate the interview but, and i'm new to the channel, but if it's an interview then you absolutely can't try to cut your interviewee off this much, if it's an interview then that's the content. Trying to be some constructive advice, be comfortable letting the interview have some air gaps.
Drones are not a constitutionally protected inalienable right, firearms are. Nothing against RR, the wheels have been in motion for a long time. It’s not far fetched to be concerned about a future ban or extremely strict regulations due to the war publicity.
Love these "big brother has a plan for this all along arguments" Embarrassing that we live in such a lay-back-and-die society now where nothings worth fighting for and at least try to protect, instead with agree with the capitalistic war mongers because "muh big brother in control"
Arms are a constitutionally protected right, not just firearms. What makes you think that drones aren’t arms? The government proved they are, hence they are protected.
I understand that there is a bigger picture when it comes to Rotor Riot and weaponizing FPV drones. But every brand is present on the battlefield in Ukraine. That being said, 10 years ago the Russians shot down a plane, killing 298 people and 2 dogs in a horrific manner with a Buk missile. Some of them had their oxygen masks on when their bodies were found. Out of the 298 people, 196 were Dutch, and so were the two dogs. A few days ago, the Russians attacked a children's hospital with a rocket, killing children. So, in my opinion, as many FPV drones as possible should be sent to Ukraine. Here in the Netherlands, we have many refugees from Ukraine, and I have heard plenty of stories to form this opinion.
It's one thing to make a product that subsequently ends up being used for war, but it's another thing entirely when you design, goodmanufacture, market, and sell an item with the sole intention of being used for death and destruction. That tragedy of all those poor souls is heartbreaking and I hope their families can find peace. Russia isn't the only country to do horrific things and at the end of the day do you blame every Russian for the acts of a few evil men? Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Russia conscript its citizens? I wholeheartedly agree that the war they started is downright atrocious and needs to end but not through complete annihilation of a generation of men and women forced to fight for an evil dictator and his corrupt government. Anyways that its my opinion on the matter and I respect yours.
Look up Operation anyface and Aerodynamic, we built israel to prop up bandera the nazi... Anyone crying needs to move countries haha. IE NWO is here been here look up coverup unit 731 / FPV vs the medical Naz community who ask for amnesty and did medical experiments on Dutch orphans aka the original ""green deal"" ie German green party who is asking for amnisty as they harbor isis or israel as quoted at 24min on the 1990 cspan interview at 24min on the every prince has a spy interview...
Eye for an eye is children's mentality. Nothing will get solved if either side gets more means of destroying each others country. It needs to get put to an end and not make it draw on longer by adding new weaponry that will end up in a call and response fashion.
Wait, we're supposed to be able to talk without insults or unproductive conversations?! Imagine how much more boring comment sections would be! 🤣Interesting interview though, this kind of thing is always so divisive. I think we can tend to forget sometimes that we're all on the same team.
🤣 Nice one! Your last sentence: “I think we can tend to forget sometimes that we’re all on the same team.” is maybe why people find RotorRiot’s pivot to specifically making drones designed to kill, is so splitting for the community.
@@lecolintube exactly, my team is flying drones for fun or commercial work, their team is strapping grenades on. We may all be in the same room, but I'm not on their team
@@ImaginationTech Thanks for the post, possibly I’ve got this wrong, so happy to be corrected. This is my current understanding: Rotor Riot, along with Fatshark have recently been acquired by Red Cat. Red Cat have just announced via their website that they are introducing: “As part of the new family of systems, Red Cat is introducing FANG™, a new First-Person View (FPV) drone with precision strike payload capabilities.” (To me this sounds very different to a commercial bind and fly that is available to anyone). Again maybe I’ve got this wrong, in this interview, Drew Camden stated (talking about what previous supply by Rotor Riot of drone and drone parts to the US government was used for): 42:16 “I can’t confirm what it’s used for”. (Or the context seemed to state he didn’t know what they wanted the drones and drone parts for). This may have been true in the past, however I don’t believe it could continue to hold true, with Red Cat making this specific strike fpv drone. Drew was also asked directly at 36:12 “If your truely committed that fpv shouldn’t be used in a war setting (to which Drew says ‘Yes’)”. I believe it’s hard to connect this statement with Rotor Riots now parent company directly developing this new, purpose built strike fpv drone. This part of the interview goes on to discuss why Rotor Riot have been singled out - the difference I believe is that Red Cat are directly developing this new strike drone, and unlike all other fpv drones (and consumer drones being used in the Ukraine, Russia conflict), which are being repurposed. This new direction too, to me, has been what has caused the division, especially as Rotor Riot were at the heart of the fpv community for such a long time. Happy to be corrected here, & happy to continue the discussion. Thanks again, Cheers
@@lecolintube I can't comment factually on those things your statement that the RR/FS acquisition was recent. I believe it's been quite a few years now. IIRC it was before the pandemic. But whatever, I believe your point is since RR and FS are under the Red Cat umbrella, these things trickle down. My opinion however is we need to maintain a separation of these companies. Red Cat as a holding company (or whatever, I'm not an expert on this), owns A LOT of companies, among them FS and RR and Teal and a whole load of other IP. RR/FS isn't even front and center on their website (maybe with some digging you can find it), but Teal Drones is. When Red Cat talks about lethal precision strike drones, they are most likely talking about Teal, not Rotor Riot. As I undersood it, Teal is the one that RR is selling to, aside from the DOD agencies that buy BNFs from them, and Teal Drones makes their own military drones. Can Teal Drones retrofit these standard BNFs into a precision-strike drones? Sure, but (again my opinion) they may be better off using a purpose-made drone instead. tl;dr Red Cat owns other companies, among them Teal Drones which is the one that produces military drones, not Rotor Riot. We shouldn't paint all these different companies with a single brush.
Yeah sorry lost me at “any company that doesn’t go to defence won’t survive” Can’t defend a scummy choice, just accept anybody with actual morals will go against this shit.. profits over the customers that made the company who it was… Can’t get a bigger “fuck you we don’t care about you” then this
Companies exist to make money. If a company doesn't make money, it's not a company, it's a government agency. But you're right. It is a choice. It's a choice of making money or going out of business. So given they are going to make military drones, they now have a choice of who to sell those to. They chose western countries and Ukraine. I'm not sure what's wrong with that.
But everybody has been fine with every other manufacturer supplying parts to the Ukrainian military for the last 2 years, all RR have done is said the quiet part out loud. If you genuinely believe the likes of iflight, tbs etc aren’t supplying parts you’re very naive.
Awesome job asking the questions!! I mean I understand where people are coming from. But like Drew said this has been going on in our hobby for years. So live with it or try and only buy components from companies that don't help the military and I think that there isn't any besides small hobby owned businesses.
My original comment got chopped but good for you for covering this, the boycott is hypercritical at best and cognitive dissidence at worst since everybody and their dog has been supplying parts to Ukraine for the last 2 years and nobody has had a problem with them militarising our hobby, but oh no, RR say the quiet bit out loud and everybody suddenly wants to boycott. If people want to boycott for militarising the hobby then sell up now and find another hobby as you will not find a manufacturer or supplier who hasn’t supplied FPV gear for combat.
@@testpilotian3188 you would be mistaken, they are many FPV companies who don't participate in war mongering. The large corporate companies have no problem selling out our community to supply the war...that's more apparent than ever after watching Drew and Redcat's actions. I choose with my wallet to not support RotorRiot, or iFlight, or GetFPV. Lots of great companies, that don't want to profit from war.
its really ironical that in europe a lot of people from FPV hobby supports ukraine and everyone suports them .. But in US wich is participating in conflicts all around the world and sends weapons for bilions of dollars everyone losing their mind over it xD i think cheap fpv drones should be taxpayers smallest problem right now in US
Most Americans actually don't like the fact that we're spending all this money on wars we should not really be involved in, if trump gets elected president, I think that will go way down.
I was wrong. I was initially dead set against what RR was doing, but, like so many others I was letting emotion override my thinking. After hearing Drew's side of things, along with my having read many of the comments, I now understand the reasoning behind RR's decision. It's just good business sense. I'd rather see them evolve than wither away.
I'd rather see them focus on the hobby than focus on mounting grenades to hobby frames. Sad that they can't survive without selling out to the military (Drew's words)
Unbelievable!! Trying to justify making weapons and your excuse is MAKING MONEY?!?! GOOFS!! every last one of you. Drew why are you behind this?? WTF?? Done with rotor riot.
When the USM enters the chat and wholesale replaces your entire FPV community's sales numbers with one deal, you're gonna move. DJI doesn't make billions off the back of avatas and the potato, it's from the industrial and military deals on much more expensive aircraft. If people started boycotting them because of military contracts, they wouldn't bat an eye. Understanding your context as a consumer is very important when high technology is offered to you at a seemingly reasonable price. It often means that the money the org needs to survive has already been made elsewhere. The USM will eventually in-house these design/manufacturing efforts, so it won't last super long for private companies that don't have patents to protect.
The major difference is that DJI is under the control of the CCP, RotorRiot is not. There was no ability for DJI to participate in a decision when it pertains to war efforts as the government will dictate their every move without any sort of control from DJI. RotorRiot was not forced, was not controlled, was not told to do this partnership for any other reason than a financial gain which directly desecrates their whole image within the community.
You're right that RotorRiot had a choice to make, but lets not be naive about it. When a small business that requires revenue to survive, and a large amount of revenue gets offered to them from a stable and wealthy customer, not hobby customers, you can imagine that can feel like a 'decision' with a lot of forceful leverage on it. The CCP could very likely operate a similar passive/aggressive policy, although with more than just financials as leverage.They may not be explicitly 'forcing' any company to have them on their board, but are implicitly forcing them for fear of financial/other consequences. On the consumer side, though, there's a real sense of 'moral hygiene' in the west when it comes to the people wanting what they want without guilt of the moral consequences required to achieve them. We all want successful western companies, oil/gas prices we can afford, cheaper hobby electronics, but we don't want to know what it takes to get them that low and convenient. Success is rarely 'self-made', it's often something that is permitted by the already successful. You don't earn a job, you are allowed work in exchange for money owned by a company who holds more power than you to. That applies from a worker getting a job all the way to a whole company winning major contracts. There are many ways to success/power, and this kind of choice is just one of them. Personally I think, given how the USM will likely drop all contracts and in-house everything eventually (this is just an easy way to take promised military aid money and spend it with little logistical effort), that this kind of choice is a short-term gain for RotorRiot will be a medium-term PR loss. But I honestly don't think the bulk of their hobby consumer base are that concerned tbh. It'll be similar to Volkswagen's or Mercedes' PR issue after the world wars, where they used to be full time military manufacturers and then transitioned back into civ manufacturing in peacetime. Rotor Riot aren't exactly thaaaat big in the drone world so their loss in in community favour vs what they could do with the company (for the community) in a financially healthy state makes this kinda decision a lot simpler than many folks are making it out to be.
@@_burd I’d recommend doing some research on how big businesses work in the CCP. There’s no self ownership, you either agree to work under the gun by them or they absorb your company and you get disappeared, especially if you have no family ties. Sorry but there’s absolutely no parallels between independent western companies and CCP owned companies when it comes to war effort arrangements. It’s fairly uninformed to say the only way to conduct business and make it successful is through immoral practice as there are plenty of highly successful businesses with great moral practices. Let’s be honest here, these bozos make roughly 40k a year and have FOMO on FPV involvement in the wars. The difference between VW/Mercedes is that they provide extremely valuable products to the market, so whether it’s for killing or for getting billy to soccer, people will by the product - Rotorriot provides helicopter toys and toy helicopter videos. RotorRiot’s only foundation is their community which they put a large dent in, and these morons now have no back out plan one USM makes their crap in house which they are going all in on. They have, for a fact, soured their name in the community and their stats show it plain and clear. Viewership and their little community means nothing when a large portion of large players in this very small niche start boycotting you. Whether you want to support a team that will take kids money to buy their drone products, and use that kids money to fund the murder of other children in a different country is up to you, but it will speak volume on those who support degenerates like rotorriot in a hobby based around flying toy helicopters.
Surely you know that they make FPV stuff for fun, compared to almost everything else they (DJI) make, we are just an afterthought, yes they are subsidized by the government, but if that was taken away I think they would survive just fine
@@DaxNealFPV yeah, it's kinda odd considering everyone wanted to hear a response from Rotor Riot. You interviewed the head of the company. I figured well this is interesting. I'm sure people would want the information. Drew isn't saying anything over the top. Its a very good interview.
@@josefdahari I figured, hence my opening statement. This is America where we were founded on freedom to think and say what you want in an adult manner.
Well there's a difference between going out and making hobby drones and turning into a defense contractor or just straight being a defense contractor there's a big differenc the reason why they're not calling for DJI band is because they make all kinds of drones all kinds of things right now right is just basically going to make drones for defense contractors so they can watch the citizens and keep us all enslaved so thanks now or so to take the side of the government is usually the wrong side let's just say that and if it involves money if the division involve money you know something's really wrong
You guys are spot on! I've been saying precisely this since the first video i saw in the subject. How disconnected can people be to think their bando bashing is still the center of everything when people's liberties and lives are at stake? Why do so many Americans hold such an immediate disgust to their own government and defense forces, yet don't bat an eye supporting shady chinese companies? Why, after all the awesome stuff rotoriot has brought to this community, do people assume Drew and the others are evil corporate gold-diggers with a desire to kill innocent people? For a community so united against Karens, too many are acting like ones. Such a discussion was overdue. It should've been the first things most youtubers should've jumped on. Thanks!
As a hobbyist, I worry that drones to some degree will become Second Amendment items. As a supporter of Ukraine, I want to see more and more of them on the field. The United States made a commitment to the Ukrainian people to come to their aid in the case of a Russian invasion after giving up the third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons on the planet. Had Obama not failed them in 2014, we may not have had this conversation so soon. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to heroes.
I'm new to FPV, started last year and it's interesting to hear about the other companies involved in similar efforts. One question that came to mind was why's no one ever made a fuss over the DRL being sponsored by the USAF? As you pointed out. I also felt business is business, my dad had an private ambulance service and, eventually, contracted for a major ambulance service. After some time he realised they're starting to dominate so he had to swallow his pride and sell out to them before getting taken out and losing everything. Also, anyone with malicious intent can go and buy something meant for innocent use and use it to purposefully take innocent lives as apposed to a military using it on people who are trained and signed up to be soemwhere where they could possibly be injured or their life taken🤷🏻♂️
@@christopherm-84 I found it odd too that the USAF is using DRL to actively recruit and that’s okay. Nike has had DOD contracts and so many other brands. Canned food was developed for the military. Where does one draw the moral objection line and not be hypocritical is my conundrum.
Great video. Was really good to hear this as a calm rational discussion. Lately it seems like there’s lots of things trying to keep us out of the air, so we need to make sure we aren’t fighting amongst ourselves.
if rotor riot would just be upfront and more vocal about the situation i think more people would understand and accept their decisions. But rather then doing that they release the boomboom drone video, really poor decision making in my opinion. This is why i can not support them at this point in time.
Unfortunately, Camden comes across as a slimy used car salesman, with a less than satisfactory intelligence quotient. He did make great videos, though, back in the day.
they are going to play the capital games, once they have the fund they will patent block other manufacturer, then guess what ? This is just the surface guys
Nothing, but a hypocrisies! “I’m not fan of war… to end all wars would be the greatest thing to achieve as a species” Yet, you’re taking turn to be part of the issue.. Is that simple.
I hate negative outlook for the hobby: regulations, bans, tarrifs, etc. Politics does not belong to be involved in this hobby. Thankfully we Europeans have ORQA producing NDAA compliant EU manufactured parts. Govt won't ban or rectrict importing SMT and rework machines and chips, so why people panic? My advice: Don't worry, stay possitive, go rip some packs. I have been stocking on components for a while and Im still concerned about the future of hobby and feel dissapointed, angry and depressing. But we must keep staying positive and maybe raise butt and do something. Maybe domestic production? SMT machines only cost few K€. Hobby needs more positive news, more innovation on hardware and software side of things. FPV related youtube content has been mostly too negative and toxic lately and that is reducing the number of existing hobbyists and newcomers to this already small, niche hobby. Everything seems like FPV community is killing itself. In other words: we are cutting a branch we are sitting on.
How could anybody be against rotor riot but stand with Ukraine that sounds crazy boycott rotor riot, but then say send drones to Ukraine make it make sense Hey, rotor riot I’ll still be buying I have my own mind and can think for myself is Drew still wearing eyeliner?😢
I don't agree with a lot of US actions, policies, or parties, but I do love my country. We can all fight in the comments but the world is complex and placing the blame on Rotor Riot is both ironic & hilarious.. especially when most of these youtubers openly support dji, orca, rdq, getfpv, etc. I feel like an outlier here for supporting what you guys are doing and as such I feel like I shouldn't even talk about it publicly (I never wanted to involve politics in any of my fpv pages). Also, I completely understand the anger, sadness, and atrocities of real conflicts and do not want to participate. I also do not want the US hyper-involved in foreign affairs, however, I want to be able to protect this amazing country (that we all seem to take for granted). If I was to make the laws, I would probably mimic the Swiss and adopt more neutral policies. I would focus spending on domestic defense. I do not want war, but I don't believe that we can have a world without this technology existing. Thanks for taking the time to speak to the community, I know it is a touchy subject and everyone has a lot of valid reasons to be upset. I hope we can all have some discord and a bit of understanding in both directions. (2) sides to the story and the best solutions are usually somewhere in the middle.
Thanks Dax for putting this together! There’s so much mis-information and stereotyping going on out there right now over the things that have happened recently and people need to be made aware of what’s going on and not make assumptions.
This was a video I was waiting for. Everything is the current world we live is so interconnected but many can’t see it. I like to look at things from a logical point of view instead of an emotional one. Choices made on emotion are easy n the moment. Choices made after looking from every direction are rarely ever easy. Rotor Riot is just the latest victim of cancel culture because before hearing their explanation, everyone has already made up their minds to boycott.
Thank you for doing this video. I have a new found respect for you and your approach. Civilized conversations and respect for others opinions has definitely been lost on social media lately. Would love you to do more content like this.
@@LarscoFPV Absolutely agree!!! 🧡🕊️
Thank you for putting it so eloquently as well.
The whole war issue aside, this really shows the true motives.
I nearly choked on my coffee when he mentioned blackbox data on the blockchain. Clearly the folks at the top have absolutely no idea what they’re doing other than riding new hype waves and trying to get rich.
"Entrepreneurs" sniffing around for profit, I remember the early quadcopter scene was full of them, myself included. Seems to happen whenever academic research produces novel scientific understanding and the world's collective war economies produce an overabundance some new commodity (smartphone components in this case). You've probably noticed a few cycles of this recently, now that it occurs so rapidly. Block chain, IoT and now AI... it's kinda boring isn't it? New blood gets absorbed by employment, but they never end up owning anything other than toys and trinkets; bribes. The investor class sucks all their wealth right back up without us even noticing, and our names are left on all the new loans. Each of these things is just another line to snort for them, then they start chopping up the next one. We can't keep allowing this to go on. Engineers and Academics have the choice to stop this. Don't submit to being employed like this. Do something on your own accord, for your own people.
Thank you for presenting this. Peoples lives are more important than profit. "The collapse of the American economy, at least we got bandos!" ... this is gross. You are a human before you are an FPV pilot. Drew says he is the master of his own destiny... so then he chose the side of profiteering warmongers and that is how he will be remembered. RotorRiot doesn't need this to survive, RedCat does... because 'defense' is their livelihood. Using the term 'defense' for these companies is whitewashing what it really is, WAR... to make the masses more accepting and let's the officers and board members sleep at night. Dax: "its too lucrative for companies not to, to ensure the health of a company"... what about the health of a person murdered by one of your weapons in the name of your stockholders margins? Quit giving exceptions for the almighty dollar that doesn't even trickle down. The entire purpose of waging war is profit. Drew has sold his humanity for profit.Yes, it is naive to think this mindset will ruin the FPV hobby... This mindset is actually ruining the entire world. And then he brings it all into focus and closes with tease of their newest cool product followed by an inevitable plea for people to gamble on his stock and give more money to the billionaire stockholders... you don't need to pay your rent, just keep feeding the inescapable machine.
@@danzillatheterrible well said 🙌
I guarantee your a Democrat. The biggest warmongers in the world. Vote trump and they won't have a reason to sell drones to the dod
👏🏼 LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 👏🏼
you are a gem in the hobby brother
Right on... If an institution no longer has a good purpose for being or moral identity, close it! Find something else to do. The FPV Community doesn't need it's own NRA. Kids can learn STEM without training on weaponry of war, or watching an armament corporation's grooming media. Take the cartoon camel off the box of cigarettes, and mandate a warning label.
Complete boycott to RR. I will rather stop flying if it means stopping support for companies that think war is ok if it generates jobs.
i mean like he said. you can boycott rr but where else are you going to get quad parts? and that company you chose, they are most likely supplying the war as well
@@waverazor that's why I said.. I will stop flying.
@@leoponce82ponce oooh right I missed that part. Damn, oh well..
@@leoponce82ponce I'm 100% with you, but you're going to need to boycott a lot more than just FPV vendors once you start down this path. I hope you will, but if you live in The West, your toil goes towards maintaining empire whether you want it to or not. All you can do is minimize your contribution to "Moloch", as Schmachtenberger would put it. Good luck bro.
Bye yall!
Weapons put real people’s lives in jeopardy.
Watching a Hamas soldier dying today with Israeli military drones around - F everything about this move and Rotor Riot. It's so scummy. "everything is related to war" that's like saying "you are using a macbook, so you support child labour for lithium". Capitalism at it's finest from an American FPV company. Sickening.
My opinion is this.
For example Toyota. They make cars. Many of their cars is used in war. But they didn't advertise their cars to be combat suitable or similar. So it is purely responsibility of people who initiated the war for using Toyota cars in combats. Same goes for all FPV manufacturers. They didn't developed and manufactured their gear to be used in war. But people are doing it.
Totally different thing is if something is advertised and sold as a lethal machine.
That's just my opinion.
@@mihavuk umm, pretty sure that Teal Drones which is who Drew is working with has a sole motive of making war machines
@@mihavukthats what Unusual Machines was doing if im not mistaken. Same rotor riot drones marketed explicitly for “precision strikes”.
I am going to be honest, I didn't "grow up" in FPV watching all these companies that are also doing it. RR took me from "What is FPV" to "This is a really fun, but expensive, hobby." I also don't like the argument that "everyone else is doing it, so killing people is OK." If Sesame Street started selling people the means to kill people, I would be like WTF. I understand that this is a corporation, and corporations only care about profit. This is not how it started. This is a major move from "A cool skate board company" to "I will do anything, including murder, to make a profit."
Wow, that's perfectly put! That's exactly why it felt so dirty and underhanded, especially after the original 4 dudes were usurped. This is no different than childhood indoctrination by the NRA, or perhaps just one of many gun manufacturers making children's outreach content to get them interested in buying their product, and then selling their mailing list to the U.S. Military for targeted recruitment. We're probably all on a list now, whether RR knows it or not. Maybe we just shouldn't have an NRA of "tactical" (anti-personnel) drone weaponry. They can sell their weapons all they want, just shutter the kiddie channel on UA-cam and embrace the new owners they're beholden to.
Boycotts can affect people lives ... and militarizing a hobby doesn't? lmao
Yes it can. It can help people defend themselves from genocide.
@@TrickyFPV420 By forcing governments to actually back their own chosen allies with real military hardware instead of toys with grenades taped to them?
Dang, imagine having FOMO on war profiteering. This is a wild ass timeline.
Imagine not having your own fleet ready to go when the enemy invades your backyard because the USA can’t figure its leadership shit out, when our options are “weekend at Bernie’s” or the rich guy from “Home Alone” who grabs women by the pussy… not to mention DEI-fueled incompetent military and infrastructure. The USA has never been weaker, more divided, less threatening, and our adversaries know it. Go build your own fleet, in fact I agree with you… this is a wild ass time. Get ready.
this is the best summary
This is equivalent to the "Someone is going to sell drugs and ruin this community, it might as well be me" argument.
correct
Spot on!
@@jdmjdmjdmjdmjdmjdmjdm Not really. Selling drugs only benefits the drug dealers. Selling products used for a nation's defense mostly helps the nation buying the equipment. War is just something that has always happened and will always happen.
@@CarbonGlassMan simp
@@CarbonGlassMan "has / will always happen" is the exact psychology drug dealers must internalize to cope with their own lack of moral fortitude. You've basically deeply insulted Drew and everyone involved with RR, as if they can't possibly ever know or do any better. You're depriving them of any expectation of possessing free will to make up their own moral mind about this. This story isn't over yet, and they know plenty of us think better of them. Everybody makes mistakes, but can you recover from them is the challenge on offer here, to all of us... humanity as a whole even. Nothing is inevitable.
35:28 - Response to boycotting Rotor Riot
My number one takeaway is there is a new Flight controller 😁 moving on now
Such a great video! Loved seeing a human conversation and not a one sided beat down. Can’t wait to see more interviews in the future I love this content style!
Always full of knowledge. Thank you Dax for your continued contributions
@@inCarsoNatedFPV thank your for saying so and for watching!
These are the conversations that are productive. I respect Drew’s stance on this.
My question is how are these companies are going to stand up and support the fpv hobby when the government steps in and politically says these are all weapons?
Are you just gonna set back and let it go down the drain or actually get out of your chair and go to congress and say these are the reasons why we need to let civilians fly drones and they are not all weapons?
Trigger, devices, drop devices and military applications that are not available for the hobby is the clear key differences.
If you are selling a normal fpv drone that is modified to cause harm to people is the problem.
Some people think that this will cause the government to look at all fpv drones as weapons.
Kinda like a armalite selling the ar15 and m16. They are all now seen as assault weapons.
I greatly appreciate this, Dax. You having Drew on and being open minded about his perspective was an excellent use of your platform and time.
I think it's easy for us to sit back in our comfortable lives with our "first world problems" and judge. Taking a second to realize what Ukraine has done with FPV and seeing the difference they've made is incredible.
The fear of losing our hobby is understandable, but this infighting on "I support their use/I don't support their use" is not going to help preserve the consumer/hobby side. Educating the public on what we do, leaning into the educational and STEM programs, and maintaining a strong and inviting community is how we keep our hobby. There is nothing that RR or any other company is going to do to scare the public or legislation into doing anything they weren't already going to do.
Please educate yourself in global events. Get out of your bubble and open your eyes and mind.
U support Ukraine ?
@DawnHub666 look what Russia has done with FPV?
@@kevinhollis0 i saw yeh
there is no excuse for this
the argument that others do it too is stupid as fuck
if they use fpv for war that is one thing if you as a fpv company sell to millitary its another thing
bubbys moxy frame is alrdy on red cats site rembranded as a precision strike drone named "the fang"
they are building fpv drones for killing people now
i cant be ok with this there is no excuse for this
how about not doing that maybe?
what did i say that my comment got deleted?
. Seeing "the homies" turn into a big corporation isn't easy. While Drew isn't the best at choosing words, (really could use a PR person) moving to the next level takes what appears to be heartless decisions. Rotor riot isn't on a path to survival in its current state. What other choice do they have? Appeal to some people's morals and eventually go bankrupt and dissappear. Or make big business decisions and move forward. It will lead to innovations no doubt. But the hard truth in the defense sector is well.. we already know
Personally I'm glad they are supporting American defense and not foreign. Keeping the tech and money at home. Which is a good thing no matter what you think about them.
The question is.. do you want your favorite homie FPV shop to grow into a major corporation in America technology and business in a niche market.. or do you want them to stay small and eventually die out. It's not easy seeing it turn out this way, I get it. It doesn't appear they give a s___t about you, they need to care about surviving. Our hobby isn't what it used to be. Change sucks. Corporations and business of any kind just can't appeal to you personally. Or they won't survive.
You cant run a business off of UA-cam videos with viewership dropping, in a hobby that has such a steep learning curve and lower interest than most. He is right about how to survive and thrive.
Not to mention every single FPV company from DJI to iflight, even TBS is involved. Period. You can hide from it and scream over the truth all you want but it's true.
Personally I hate seeing it but I understand and will continue to enjoy the hobby. Knowing my money will support American defense if I spend it at rotor riot instead of Russian or Chinese defense.. deff sounds more appealing to me. But damn I hate that defense and war is even involved.
Rotor riot isn't the issue.. war is the issue. They are just following suite. Staying alive in a hobby that's hard to survive. What good is street cred if you have to close your doors.
I wholeheartedly disagree. What you've described is also referred to as "selling your soul" - its going against everything you believe in to make it work. Maybe the answer is - "it won't work". I'd rather see that than what we are seeing.
@TommyGFPV so you would rather they had said no, and went bankrupt and closed their doors, so they can stay virtuous? When every other product out there is contributing to the war? You selling all your gear and walking away from FPV to save YOUR soul? Sounds cool in a tweet but the reality of life doesn't work like that.
Agree to disagree I guess.
What I'm talking about is staying alive as a business in 2024.
They also have the choice to not sell their products to warmongers.......free market, remember!😊
@keithcarpenter5254 yep they sure do. Just as you have the choice not to support them. No one is obligated to do anything. Free market as you said. Just stating my opinion. Free market snd Free speech are both brought to you by war mongers
I don’t think it’s about street cred. It’s about doing what’s right and knowing you did that the end of the day, regardless of the consequences, even if that means shutting your business down. There’s plenty of other profitable businesss.
The war in Ukraine started in 2014
Very true
exactly. My issue isnt military use. It is selling out to corrupt oligarchy that funds literal Nazis... These guys are getting the kickback from our misused taxes...
@@DaxNealFPV Are you war expert?
@@miloschjovanovic that’s common knowledge just like that Russia was an ally of Nazi Germany in 1939 when they invaded Poland together. Your victory day and great patriotic war are a farce created by the Soviet propaganda machine.
@@miloschjovanovic are you? 🤣
“Since I can’t end war, I might as well profit off it.” -paraphrase
@@MatthewRayFlicks or the company folds… aren’t any of yall listening?
Drew. Please understand I'm aware I don't know you, and you may be a very nice guy. If I was in your situation with your information I may make the same decisions you have. You are the face of Rotor Riot. For me the problem has always been there is something about you that is inherently unlikeable, more accurately my instincts say "don't trust that guy". I'm aware I have no basis for this opinion. You've said/done a few things over the years that weren't ideal but nothing truly bad but instincts tell me you would make compromises in life for the sake of comfort that I wouldn't be ok with. As an example... Many people buy Iphones even though they hear rumors about suicide nets on the factories that are ran like sweat shops, but my impression of you is, you may actually be ok with being a manager at one of those locations. You would likely have some fancy justification but in the end you could do that. Again this is just me putting words to my impression of you and has no basis in fact. If there is any truth to this (and only you would know) I would recommend doing some soul searching and making some changes. If not then chalk my statement up to some crazy person on the internet. I have always wondered though why people have such a negative impression of you when you haven't really done anything wrong and if possibly are they reacting to the same gut feeling I have. For me this is why I haven't trusted Rotor Riot, and it's been that way for maybe 4-5 years. Long before the Ukraine situation. As for drones in war. Drones are a tool. Blaming tools is pointless. The real focus should be on the leaders who created a situation. The land and the civilians would have been fine without the leaders and their questionable motivations. I wish you the best and hope my assessment is incorrect, I just wanted to let you know one persons perspective.
Damn. Yeah, kinda... but FPV is a bunch of people with affluenza, spending disposable income to entertain themselves. Our entire demographic is varying levels of sociopathy, provably! People with disposable income are usually pretty smart though, so we can often wise up after we're done being young and rudderless. He might surprise you yet. We all might. I just wish he had the sense to know about shell companies so he could do all this soul searching in private, lol.
Thank you for taking the time to reach out, & seek to hear and listen/try understand Drew’s side of the story.
Respect 👊🕊️🧡
Thank you.
The fidgety energy is deeply familiar. I was (un)lucky enough to have the right background at the right time and place to choose a lucrative life as part of the Military Industrial Complex, and I did so for a year. But I wasn't able to morally justify it to myself after a while. Being surrounded by people that have every typical excuse I tried to internalize, actually well-documented in these very comments, just wore on me until I was disgusted with the status quo, and my own pointless toiling to maintain a hegemony that objectively hastens extinction, generally. Not to mention actually spending my finite time away from loved ones and anything altruistic in order to submit to this frankly insane thing that is feeding off us. I realized I'd rather be possibly poor and happy, and that my ambition is easily converted from gaming earning potential, to direct learning potential. I'm lucky enough to know a few people that took philosophy seriously enough to have put me on to a thing or two, not to mention I've seen a lot of death up close. I hope these people find a way out of this ugly place in life, and realize that they can manifest a lot more than they realize if they choose something other than what's presented to them by business jackals. I've mastered 4 different career fields in my 40-sum years, and they all ended like this... surrounded by monstrous choices and morally blind people at their lonely top, trying to convince me to stay with them. I guess misery loves company, and owners love to flaunt their collection of intellects. Not everyone can abstain from the ease of submission. I was eventually able to... and I'm not special. I'm lucky.
I like Drew's "why am I being bothered with this" attitude! I also like how he dismiss his customers concerns with "c'mon, you must be naive, or stupid, if you don't know lots of companies work with the DOD". He is correct, but I don't have to shop/buy from those companies if don't like their business model. And his apples to oranges comparison of Tyler B. being an Air Force pilot, and owning RDQ, is just laughable. Tyler volunteered to be in the AF and then strapped on an F-15 and flew into combat! That's very different then selling items out of the comfort of your home or office. I do commend Drew for telling us he doesn't know, or care, how his products are being used as long as he and RR get paid. I really want to finish by saying something nice about Drew and RR, but between his statements and his attitude I don't think he helped himself with this interview.
Bro u have my respect. Trying to manufacture parts domestic shouldn't be something overlooked. Supplying American manufactured parts to us defense is heroic. Cheers and good luck. You have my support
who is attacking the US ?
@DawnHub666 we prepare for the worst and hope for the best. The word "attack" was not in my comment. In a perfect world there wouldn't be a need for defense mechanisms of any kind. But unfortunately that's not the reality of our species.
@@cementkidd is UN attack force US defense ?
@DawnHub666 I was merely stating my opinion. Your obviously triggered by this video. Agree to disagree. But for the sake of argument, I personally believe that any topic, sport, hobby, or entertainment source of any kind sparks a political rift in whatever it may be. This is a hobby. This is a bunch of people flying toys and having fun. The companies that provide us with these toys are not politically motivated. Calling for a boycott is cutting off your nose to spite your face. The majority of the parts that we use are from countries that would love to see us fail. The money that we use to by these parts goes indirectly to the very strength of those countries one way or another. So unless you would rather see a homegrown company fail for steering clear of a ridiculous political opinion, people should just mind their business about if it triggers their delicate political alignment.
u seem to be aligned with some type of fpv war// im deffo not. not that triggered either. ive seen worse
Only thing I disagree with drew on was his stance on more pew pew control. Ummmmm leave my 2nd amendment rights alone soy boy!
This was a good, much needed talk. Thank you! I agree that it is always a good idea to set aside our emotions and talk things out reasonably so we can learn all the facts in order to form a better informed opinion. And whatever opinion, I think we can still act respectfully towards those with opposing views. I also feel that Drew was pretty transparent during this chat, and I appreciate that. Transparency is the best policy.
@@scbartschi exactly and I’m sure for those who maintained control of their emotions and watched it through. I bet everyone learned something new.
It started because of the promo video blatantly promoting an offensive drone, looking like most rotor riot builds.
Components vs a bomb dropping thing is quite different in many people’s minds.
And since rotor riot was a “cultural” thing and not just a parts company it hit hard.
Don’t think of this as boycott. It’s mostly people not being able to buy with clear conscious.
Enjoy this awesome hoby while it's here everyone. No sense in complaining, we cant change what's inevitable
I think the main concern is the overt mingling of hobby and military drones. Dji drones are mainly used for recon as well, not as fpv strike drones which is something new. DJI isn't directly supplying Russia or Ukraine as well like RR is. They might now though because this is an escalation.
Both sides have all the brands. That's the point; we always arm both sides. NATO / China gains profit, Russia and Ukraine loses life. Why would a hobby company want any part of this disgusting business?
Rotor Riot is willing to supply to the US government and other defense entities for any purpose. FPV provides a very precise method of payload delivery that will allow any of these defense entities a specific tactical advantage.
Yes there is money in killing and Drew has FOMO for that blood money. As long as you agree then it's perfectly understandable.
I think Kmart Fpv made the best criticism video about this. His main concern is Drew is a hero to a lot of us as an fpv pilot, to see him now become a defense contractor is pretty jarring. It brings up the questions of what is the future of the hobby, are we basically all just training to become strike pilots for some future war?
@@maddercat that is basically what DRL’s three programs with Air Force is doing. Exactly that.
@@DaxNealFPV I've flown a lot of drl and have a lot of top times so I guess I'll be a good strike pilot.
Great video Dax and Drew. This makes perfect sense to me. Very well done. Slava Ukraini!
@@mrchrisrprice thank you
yes, sure.. "defense purpose".. we all know what that means for american government
Defense is a buzz term to downplay…. It’s for killing humans
Drones, beside for recon purposes, are not defensive weapons
Well done Drew, I applaud you for coming forward and explaining your side of it. I agree with your stance on it. I think if people are going to have a problem with companies that are supplying drones and tech for war purposes then they better put there FPV drones up and find a new hobby. Cause it's going to be hard to find any drones or parts because there all into it to some extent. And I would say a lot of them are into it more than Rotor Riot, but nothing is getting said about them. And as far as people getting hurt or killed unfortunately that's just a casualty of war. It sucks and in a perfect world innocent people wouldn't get hurt or killed. But it's not a perfect world. To me it's better that an fpv drone might take out a 50 yd radius if it has to happen compared to a bomb taking out a few blocks.
Thanks for doing this. The conflict in Ukraine actually started in 2014. They got more aggressive in 2022 but they had been illegally occupying ukraine against the will of the people for 8 years already including building an illegal bridge from Russia straight into Crimea.
Drew said it’s the reverse that the defense would find the store than the other way around. That’s even worse in terms of people concerned with “blood money.”
I understand that business, does business...much like politicians will politic. On the other hand, Drew was once a well known FPV community member. Its tough to see someone so influential in our hobby, take a step towards what might be the demise of our beloved hobby, all in the quest for greater profits. I'm not sure I'd be so willing to perhaps be the front man, someone who many looked up to, taking that step which might throw us all under the bus. War is war, no matter how you phrase it. Perhaps you could use your position to highlight how important this hobby is to many of us (maybe even yourself included), rather than dipping your toe in the muddy water.
If anything he a foot in the door of the government to help us if more regulations do become a thing.
@xyic0re714 this is literally why Kapper made him CEO to begin with, to take the "heat" for decisions like this. This is nothing new.
My only issue: If the defense and military deals/sells become the priority then you close the public or hobbyist doors. That will be a reason to have a detestable opinion on the company.
If you don't, then there will never be a problem because it doesn't affect the individual.
Don't want another CMW.
I have always thought of Rotor riot as the center of the community for hobbyist FPV maybe you should of stopped and thought of that before you made the choice to change it into a company known for military use product….. I think that’s what people are feeling. It’s not that you (sold out) but that you forgot who you represent.
@@bladeoutlaws1808 unfortunately this also applies to almost 100% of all FPV brands and manufacturers. I was surprised at how wide spread it is.
@@DaxNealFPV well they were not a product company first it was a community based company. They have now muddied the waters between their community based channel and a product based company. I will still buy Rotor Riot gear and still be apart of the community they started but I feel uneasy about them representing the FPV community. Hope that makes sense.
@@bladeoutlaws1808 wry well put
NGL, I bought so many shares of UMAC after this interview that I now can't afford lunch. GGWP Someone's gotta defend freedom, might as well be Le Drib
Same here
RR sold out and comes to tell their sob story
One thing I think is interesting is how russia is drafting. In the US we have this idea that around the world if people want to be against a thing, (for example, take a stance against war) then they have the opportunity to do so. This is not really the case, and I would argue it might not remain the case here in the US. People think of the battlefield as nothing but people who are ok to kill. A lot of people on the battlefield don't really understand, don't want to be fighting, but also don't want to be killed for not fighting. Drones also give extra opportunity for two-way communication between combatants. It's another opportunity for someone to know they are in a position to surrender and do so. If they surrender too close to their own machine guns, they die, they have to wait until they are in a position to be captured, they have no choice, and drones increase the possibility of the drone pilot identifying someone who will surrender, and the range at which a surrender can occur. Here, we can protest, boycott, slander, but there are really people who's only hope is that their enemy on the battlefield will give them a chance to put their hands up when they're close enough that their own team won't kill them for it.
I respect Drew’s opinion. With that being said, I think if Rotor Riot did more to publicly protect the hobby then they wouldn’t be criticized to this level. JMO
this feels like grown ups are talking after the kids table had it's five minutes
greed kills period
There’s greed and there’s just growing a company.
Loved this interview with Drew, Well done, Dax! Excellent interview, many very interesting things came out, espescially interesting RR is coming with their own fc and esc - quite the scoop! 🙌😃
Also nice to have everything in clear text, helps defeat all the bs rumours in fpv.
Keep doing what youre doing brother!
The new FC drop was planned as a distraction from the main topic. He even said that there is not enough money to be made from the FPV racing, cinematography and freestyle so they are now going to profit from war. He has no intention on moving our hobby forward. FPV recreational will only go further into the underground. I’ve watched this happen to most of my hobbies.
Love how americans talk about "evil" countries despite what they have been doing throughout the world for the last 50 years lol Good video though
Great interview man, covered a lot of things that have been on peoples minds for sure.
Well sads thing to say you made the choice to cash out I guess now we're all paying the price thanks😢
Finally a grownup conversation about this! As a European I can only be thankful for what Rotor Riot, Red Cat and Unusual Machines are doing to help our defenders fight this fucking evil that is russia! I used to look up to Botgrinder and agree with many things, but the guy showed his true colors - clicks, likes and atention is more important to him than survival and defence of people in danger of genocide.
BOT just has an overly simplistic world view of "war bad" but, he hasn't had a cruise missile hit his local hospital so maybe he just doesn't understand the sititiution of what's going on and who the people using these drones are.
@@thirtythreeeyes8624 You might be right, but it did hurt to see one of my biggest heroes show himself to be so naive and unsympathetic to what is happening...
He is one of those Antifa guys 😂
@@TrickyFPV420 You got to think of this from both sides, all decisions are bad decisions in geopolitics. The trick is to make decisions that lead to the least harm.
Sometimes, to avoid a global war, you have to create a smaller, slower war to drain power from an entity that is getting land-grabby. Moldova and Finland were already being staged in the exact same way as Ukraine was staged before invasion for an 'invade to protect RU separatists' operation, so it had to be clamped down on carefully without escalating the situation into glassing half of eastern Europe.
On RotorRiot, You made Drew a 'hero' to you, you must accept that responsibility. Though honestly, his naivetey towards the reality of the conflict is maybe for the better, as you'd rather him saying yes to 'make a bunch of BNFs for the USM and think no further" than be someone who said yes to 'make drones designed to chase conscripted people into their own bunkers, begging for their lives to the DVR, and then detonate on them anyway. We don't mind bombs because they are impersonal, but when it comes to taking ownership for ending another person's life to protect your own, you would also do whatever you could. War is hell, no doubt about it, but conflicts like these become necessary to prevent even worse things escalating.
@@thirtythreeeyes8624 That's true. I recall him saying "kiII all cops" after the media started reporting about a white cop shooting a black guy armed with a knife. The war comes out in him when he thinks something he cares about is attacked. He did later say he was angry & apologized for saying it, but he said it. That thought actually entered his head.
To any fpv flyer plane or quad his involvement is a kick in the teeth
'Im a fan of globalisation' -- Drew Camden
I'm not against what rotor riot is doing but Betaflight and other open source projects in the HOBBY should prohibit their use in warfare or military applications.
I am sure all open sources are opposed to its use but there is no way to enforce it. My hope is and I feel confident that both sides are already working on better versions of open source firmware, which would lead to them no longer using ours.
I appreciate the interview but, and i'm new to the channel, but if it's an interview then you absolutely can't try to cut your interviewee off this much, if it's an interview then that's the content. Trying to be some constructive advice, be comfortable letting the interview have some air gaps.
This the new Michael Rollins?
Those were good!
Edit: didn't want it to sound like this isn't
So an obscure UA-camr chatting about a niche hobby to other obscure UA-camrs? Yeah there’s a reason he quit
Great interview thanks
Drones are not a constitutionally protected inalienable right, firearms are. Nothing against RR, the wheels have been in motion for a long time. It’s not far fetched to be concerned about a future ban or extremely strict regulations due to the war publicity.
Love these "big brother has a plan for this all along arguments" Embarrassing that we live in such a lay-back-and-die society now where nothings worth fighting for and at least try to protect, instead with agree with the capitalistic war mongers because "muh big brother in control"
Arms are a constitutionally protected right, not just firearms. What makes you think that drones aren’t arms? The government proved they are, hence they are protected.
I understand that there is a bigger picture when it comes to Rotor Riot and weaponizing FPV drones. But every brand is present on the battlefield in Ukraine. That being said, 10 years ago the Russians shot down a plane, killing 298 people and 2 dogs in a horrific manner with a Buk missile. Some of them had their oxygen masks on when their bodies were found. Out of the 298 people, 196 were Dutch, and so were the two dogs. A few days ago, the Russians attacked a children's hospital with a rocket, killing children. So, in my opinion, as many FPV drones as possible should be sent to Ukraine. Here in the Netherlands, we have many refugees from Ukraine, and I have heard plenty of stories to form this opinion.
psychopath
It's one thing to make a product that subsequently ends up being used for war, but it's another thing entirely when you design, goodmanufacture, market, and sell an item with the sole intention of being used for death and destruction. That tragedy of all those poor souls is heartbreaking and I hope their families can find peace.
Russia isn't the only country to do horrific things and at the end of the day do you blame every Russian for the acts of a few evil men? Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Russia conscript its citizens? I wholeheartedly agree that the war they started is downright atrocious and needs to end but not through complete annihilation of a generation of men and women forced to fight for an evil dictator and his corrupt government.
Anyways that its my opinion on the matter and I respect yours.
@@CantFly_FPV they didnt start it./ the UN did/ go learn history
Look up Operation anyface and Aerodynamic, we built israel to prop up bandera the nazi... Anyone crying needs to move countries haha. IE NWO is here been here look up coverup unit 731 / FPV vs the medical Naz community who ask for amnesty and did medical experiments on Dutch orphans aka the original ""green deal"" ie German green party who is asking for amnisty as they harbor isis or israel as quoted at 24min on the 1990 cspan interview at 24min on the every prince has a spy interview...
Eye for an eye is children's mentality. Nothing will get solved if either side gets more means of destroying each others country. It needs to get put to an end and not make it draw on longer by adding new weaponry that will end up in a call and response fashion.
"From quad fairies to quad firearms" - Drew
Nice interview man
Wait, we're supposed to be able to talk without insults or unproductive conversations?! Imagine how much more boring comment sections would be! 🤣Interesting interview though, this kind of thing is always so divisive. I think we can tend to forget sometimes that we're all on the same team.
🤣 Nice one!
Your last sentence: “I think we can tend to forget sometimes that we’re all on the same team.” is maybe why people find RotorRiot’s pivot to specifically making drones designed to kill, is so splitting for the community.
@@lecolintube exactly, my team is flying drones for fun or commercial work, their team is strapping grenades on. We may all be in the same room, but I'm not on their team
@@lecolintubethey said in the video they're NOT making drones SPECIFICALLY to kill. These are the same BNFs you buy for freestyle.
@@ImaginationTech Thanks for the post, possibly I’ve got this wrong, so happy to be corrected.
This is my current understanding:
Rotor Riot, along with Fatshark have recently been acquired by Red Cat.
Red Cat have just announced via their website that they are introducing: “As part of the new family of systems, Red Cat is introducing FANG™, a new First-Person View (FPV) drone with precision strike payload capabilities.”
(To me this sounds very different to a commercial bind and fly that is available to anyone).
Again maybe I’ve got this wrong, in this interview, Drew Camden stated (talking about what previous supply by Rotor Riot of drone and drone parts to the US government was used for):
42:16 “I can’t confirm what it’s used for”. (Or the context seemed to state he didn’t know what they wanted the drones and drone parts for).
This may have been true in the past, however I don’t believe it could continue to hold true, with Red Cat making this specific strike fpv drone.
Drew was also asked directly at 36:12 “If your truely committed that fpv shouldn’t be used in a war setting (to which Drew says ‘Yes’)”.
I believe it’s hard to connect this statement with Rotor Riots now parent company directly developing this new, purpose built strike fpv drone.
This part of the interview goes on to discuss why Rotor Riot have been singled out - the difference I believe is that Red Cat are directly developing this new strike drone, and unlike all other fpv drones (and consumer drones being used in the Ukraine, Russia conflict), which are being repurposed.
This new direction too, to me, has been what has caused the division, especially as Rotor Riot were at the heart of the fpv community for such a long time.
Happy to be corrected here, & happy to continue the discussion.
Thanks again, Cheers
@@lecolintube I can't comment factually on those things your statement that the RR/FS acquisition was recent. I believe it's been quite a few years now. IIRC it was before the pandemic. But whatever, I believe your point is since RR and FS are under the Red Cat umbrella, these things trickle down.
My opinion however is we need to maintain a separation of these companies. Red Cat as a holding company (or whatever, I'm not an expert on this), owns A LOT of companies, among them FS and RR and Teal and a whole load of other IP. RR/FS isn't even front and center on their website (maybe with some digging you can find it), but Teal Drones is. When Red Cat talks about lethal precision strike drones, they are most likely talking about Teal, not Rotor Riot. As I undersood it, Teal is the one that RR is selling to, aside from the DOD agencies that buy BNFs from them, and Teal Drones makes their own military drones. Can Teal Drones retrofit these standard BNFs into a precision-strike drones? Sure, but (again my opinion) they may be better off using a purpose-made drone instead.
tl;dr Red Cat owns other companies, among them Teal Drones which is the one that produces military drones, not Rotor Riot. We shouldn't paint all these different companies with a single brush.
Drew needs to upload some sweet flight videos.
His freestyle pilot days are over. At least to the public.
@@APS-yo8oy That's a shame. He did some great flight edits.
Great work for the community. Stayed neutral while not hiding your opinions, and really showed the hypocrisy of some in FPV. Great positive content!
Yeah sorry lost me at “any company that doesn’t go to defence won’t survive”
Can’t defend a scummy choice, just accept anybody with actual morals will go against this shit.. profits over the customers that made the company who it was…
Can’t get a bigger “fuck you we don’t care about you” then this
I can respect your stance and can understand where you are coming from.
what's immoral about helping Ukraine defend it self?
Companies exist to make money. If a company doesn't make money, it's not a company, it's a government agency. But you're right. It is a choice. It's a choice of making money or going out of business. So given they are going to make military drones, they now have a choice of who to sell those to. They chose western countries and Ukraine. I'm not sure what's wrong with that.
@@viro101 who decided it was self defense ?
But everybody has been fine with every other manufacturer supplying parts to the Ukrainian military for the last 2 years, all RR have done is said the quiet part out loud. If you genuinely believe the likes of iflight, tbs etc aren’t supplying parts you’re very naive.
Awesome job asking the questions!! I mean I understand where people are coming from. But like Drew said this has been going on in our hobby for years. So live with it or try and only buy components from companies that don't help the military and I think that there isn't any besides small hobby owned businesses.
Maybe so, but a terrible way to look at it. Shut up and get in line. Oh well the hobby is on the decline anyway, we'll just help it along
'I support what they are doing in Ukraine' -- Drew Camden
Anyone who hates fascism should support them
My original comment got chopped but good for you for covering this, the boycott is hypercritical at best and cognitive dissidence at worst since everybody and their dog has been supplying parts to Ukraine for the last 2 years and nobody has had a problem with them militarising our hobby, but oh no, RR say the quiet bit out loud and everybody suddenly wants to boycott.
If people want to boycott for militarising the hobby then sell up now and find another hobby as you will not find a manufacturer or supplier who hasn’t supplied FPV gear for combat.
@@testpilotian3188 you would be mistaken, they are many FPV companies who don't participate in war mongering. The large corporate companies have no problem selling out our community to supply the war...that's more apparent than ever after watching Drew and Redcat's actions. I choose with my wallet to not support RotorRiot, or iFlight, or GetFPV. Lots of great companies, that don't want to profit from war.
Great video Dax! I’d love to see a podcast! I think you are good at it. Level headed and honest! Got a new sub from me!
Awesome, thank you!
its really ironical that in europe a lot of people from FPV hobby supports ukraine and everyone suports them ..
But in US wich is participating in conflicts all around the world and sends weapons for bilions of dollars everyone losing their mind over it xD i think cheap fpv drones should be taxpayers smallest problem right now in US
Most Americans actually don't like the fact that we're spending all this money on wars we should not really be involved in, if trump gets elected president, I think that will go way down.
@@ugpfpv361 lets hope
I'm from Arkansas too! NW
@@attackfpv what’s up! Where abouts?
You should interview joshua bardwell too since hes a cast member
Not his lane to drive in. That’s like getting an opinion on the economics of a company from the IT guy
I was wrong. I was initially dead set against what RR was doing, but, like so many others I was letting emotion override my thinking. After hearing Drew's side of things, along with my having read many of the comments, I now understand the reasoning behind RR's decision. It's just good business sense. I'd rather see them evolve than wither away.
I'd rather see them focus on the hobby than focus on mounting grenades to hobby frames. Sad that they can't survive without selling out to the military (Drew's words)
@@Fly_High_FPVif your UA-cam name rings true you and Bot are permafried lefties that doesn’t understand business or how money is generated 😂
Thanks for being the first to talk with him and give us a diffrent view point. I hope this also grows your channel for you too!
You don’t know how much I appreciate you doing this kind jester! Thank you!
Unbelievable!!
Trying to justify making weapons and your excuse is MAKING MONEY?!?!
GOOFS!! every last one of you.
Drew why are you behind this??
WTF??
Done with rotor riot.
When the USM enters the chat and wholesale replaces your entire FPV community's sales numbers with one deal, you're gonna move. DJI doesn't make billions off the back of avatas and the potato, it's from the industrial and military deals on much more expensive aircraft. If people started boycotting them because of military contracts, they wouldn't bat an eye. Understanding your context as a consumer is very important when high technology is offered to you at a seemingly reasonable price. It often means that the money the org needs to survive has already been made elsewhere. The USM will eventually in-house these design/manufacturing efforts, so it won't last super long for private companies that don't have patents to protect.
The major difference is that DJI is under the control of the CCP, RotorRiot is not. There was no ability for DJI to participate in a decision when it pertains to war efforts as the government will dictate their every move without any sort of control from DJI. RotorRiot was not forced, was not controlled, was not told to do this partnership for any other reason than a financial gain which directly desecrates their whole image within the community.
You're right that RotorRiot had a choice to make, but lets not be naive about it. When a small business that requires revenue to survive, and a large amount of revenue gets offered to them from a stable and wealthy customer, not hobby customers, you can imagine that can feel like a 'decision' with a lot of forceful leverage on it. The CCP could very likely operate a similar passive/aggressive policy, although with more than just financials as leverage.They may not be explicitly 'forcing' any company to have them on their board, but are implicitly forcing them for fear of financial/other consequences.
On the consumer side, though, there's a real sense of 'moral hygiene' in the west when it comes to the people wanting what they want without guilt of the moral consequences required to achieve them. We all want successful western companies, oil/gas prices we can afford, cheaper hobby electronics, but we don't want to know what it takes to get them that low and convenient. Success is rarely 'self-made', it's often something that is permitted by the already successful. You don't earn a job, you are allowed work in exchange for money owned by a company who holds more power than you to. That applies from a worker getting a job all the way to a whole company winning major contracts. There are many ways to success/power, and this kind of choice is just one of them. Personally I think, given how the USM will likely drop all contracts and in-house everything eventually (this is just an easy way to take promised military aid money and spend it with little logistical effort), that this kind of choice is a short-term gain for RotorRiot will be a medium-term PR loss. But I honestly don't think the bulk of their hobby consumer base are that concerned tbh. It'll be similar to Volkswagen's or Mercedes' PR issue after the world wars, where they used to be full time military manufacturers and then transitioned back into civ manufacturing in peacetime. Rotor Riot aren't exactly thaaaat big in the drone world so their loss in in community favour vs what they could do with the company (for the community) in a financially healthy state makes this kinda decision a lot simpler than many folks are making it out to be.
@@_burd I’d recommend doing some research on how big businesses work in the CCP. There’s no self ownership, you either agree to work under the gun by them or they absorb your company and you get disappeared, especially if you have no family ties. Sorry but there’s absolutely no parallels between independent western companies and CCP owned companies when it comes to war effort arrangements.
It’s fairly uninformed to say the only way to conduct business and make it successful is through immoral practice as there are plenty of highly successful businesses with great moral practices.
Let’s be honest here, these bozos make roughly 40k a year and have FOMO on FPV involvement in the wars. The difference between VW/Mercedes is that they provide extremely valuable products to the market, so whether it’s for killing or for getting billy to soccer, people will by the product - Rotorriot provides helicopter toys and toy helicopter videos.
RotorRiot’s only foundation is their community which they put a large dent in, and these morons now have no back out plan one USM makes their crap in house which they are going all in on. They have, for a fact, soured their name in the community and their stats show it plain and clear. Viewership and their little community means nothing when a large portion of large players in this very small niche start boycotting you.
Whether you want to support a team that will take kids money to buy their drone products, and use that kids money to fund the murder of other children in a different country is up to you, but it will speak volume on those who support degenerates like rotorriot in a hobby based around flying toy helicopters.
Surely you know that they make FPV stuff for fun, compared to almost everything else they (DJI) make, we are just an afterthought, yes they are subsidized by the government, but if that was taken away I think they would survive just fine
I treid to post this video in the Facebook group Beginner to FPV. It wasn't even up for 6 hours and a admin took it down. I honestly don't get it.
@@glitchunicorn I appreciate it. Maybe they didn’t want potential drama. Some still wouldn’t be able to keep civil.
@@DaxNealFPV yeah, it's kinda odd considering everyone wanted to hear a response from Rotor Riot. You interviewed the head of the company. I figured well this is interesting. I'm sure people would want the information. Drew isn't saying anything over the top. Its a very good interview.
@@glitchunicorn thank you. And I think it help to clear up some assumptions and misconceptions people were spreading.
@@DaxNealFPVIt's unfortunate that this is what it has become. Where people cannot have civil conservation with opposing views.
@@josefdahari I figured, hence my opening statement. This is America where we were founded on freedom to think and say what you want in an adult manner.
Well there's a difference between going out and making hobby drones and turning into a defense contractor or just straight being a defense contractor there's a big differenc the reason why they're not calling for DJI band is because they make all kinds of drones all kinds of things right now right is just basically going to make drones for defense contractors so they can watch the citizens and keep us all enslaved so thanks now or so to take the side of the government is usually the wrong side let's just say that and if it involves money if the division involve money you know something's really wrong
You guys are spot on! I've been saying precisely this since the first video i saw in the subject. How disconnected can people be to think their bando bashing is still the center of everything when people's liberties and lives are at stake? Why do so many Americans hold such an immediate disgust to their own government and defense forces, yet don't bat an eye supporting shady chinese companies? Why, after all the awesome stuff rotoriot has brought to this community, do people assume Drew and the others are evil corporate gold-diggers with a desire to kill innocent people? For a community so united against Karens, too many are acting like ones.
Such a discussion was overdue. It should've been the first things most youtubers should've jumped on. Thanks!
As a hobbyist, I worry that drones to some degree will become Second Amendment items. As a supporter of Ukraine, I want to see more and more of them on the field. The United States made a commitment to the Ukrainian people to come to their aid in the case of a Russian invasion after giving up the third largest stockpile of nuclear weapons on the planet. Had Obama not failed them in 2014, we may not have had this conversation so soon. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to heroes.
I'm new to FPV, started last year and it's interesting to hear about the other companies involved in similar efforts. One question that came to mind was why's no one ever made a fuss over the DRL being sponsored by the USAF? As you pointed out. I also felt business is business, my dad had an private ambulance service and, eventually, contracted for a major ambulance service. After some time he realised they're starting to dominate so he had to swallow his pride and sell out to them before getting taken out and losing everything. Also, anyone with malicious intent can go and buy something meant for innocent use and use it to purposefully take innocent lives as apposed to a military using it on people who are trained and signed up to be soemwhere where they could possibly be injured or their life taken🤷🏻♂️
@@christopherm-84 I found it odd too that the USAF is using DRL to actively recruit and that’s okay. Nike has had DOD contracts and so many other brands. Canned food was developed for the military. Where does one draw the moral objection line and not be hypocritical is my conundrum.
Great video. Was really good to hear this as a calm rational discussion. Lately it seems like there’s lots of things trying to keep us out of the air, so we need to make sure we aren’t fighting amongst ourselves.
if rotor riot would just be upfront and more vocal about the situation i think more people would understand and accept their decisions. But rather then doing that they release the boomboom drone video, really poor decision making in my opinion. This is why i can not support them at this point in time.
Unfortunately, Camden comes across as a slimy used car salesman, with a less than satisfactory intelligence quotient. He did make great videos, though, back in the day.
Good video man you nailed it that just got you a new sub thanks for taking the time for this 👍
Thanks brother!
Everyone else does it so it’s ok if we do it XD
they are going to play the capital games, once they have the fund they will patent block other manufacturer, then guess what ? This is just the surface guys
Nothing, but a hypocrisies!
“I’m not fan of war… to end all wars would be the greatest thing to achieve as a species”
Yet, you’re taking turn to be part of the issue..
Is that simple.
A pacifist will never end a war. Putin doesn't care if you want peace he wants Ukraine.
Probably we are worried we get lawed out of a hobby.
rotor riot FC for $120 VS a $60 mamba FC 🤔
Vs a $60 speedy bee stack, if the quads only going to fly once I know what I'm picking
@@thirtythreeeyes8624 fly once I have mamba from 2018 20x20 and 30x still flying great 👍
Is the fc 8s capable? Cause I just buit an 8s quad and finding a good 8s fc for a good price is difficult.
Have you looked at the foxeer
Brain FPV radix 2, a bit pricey but made in the U.S
I hate negative outlook for the hobby: regulations, bans, tarrifs, etc. Politics does not belong to be involved in this hobby.
Thankfully we Europeans have ORQA producing NDAA compliant EU manufactured parts.
Govt won't ban or rectrict importing SMT and rework machines and chips, so why people panic?
My advice: Don't worry, stay possitive, go rip some packs. I have been stocking on components for a while and Im still concerned about the future of hobby and feel dissapointed, angry and depressing. But we must keep staying positive and maybe raise butt and do something. Maybe domestic production? SMT machines only cost few K€.
Hobby needs more positive news, more innovation on hardware and software side of things. FPV related youtube content has been mostly too negative and toxic lately and that is reducing the number of existing hobbyists and newcomers to this already small, niche hobby. Everything seems like FPV community is killing itself. In other words: we are cutting a branch we are sitting on.
Very interesting info. I’m going to start digging into those machines now.
just money
How could anybody be against rotor riot but stand with Ukraine that sounds crazy boycott rotor riot, but then say send drones to Ukraine make it make sense
Hey, rotor riot I’ll still be buying I have my own mind and can think for myself is Drew still wearing eyeliner?😢
I don't agree with a lot of US actions, policies, or parties, but I do love my country. We can all fight in the comments but the world is complex and placing the blame on Rotor Riot is both ironic & hilarious.. especially when most of these youtubers openly support dji, orca, rdq, getfpv, etc. I feel like an outlier here for supporting what you guys are doing and as such I feel like I shouldn't even talk about it publicly (I never wanted to involve politics in any of my fpv pages). Also, I completely understand the anger, sadness, and atrocities of real conflicts and do not want to participate. I also do not want the US hyper-involved in foreign affairs, however, I want to be able to protect this amazing country (that we all seem to take for granted). If I was to make the laws, I would probably mimic the Swiss and adopt more neutral policies. I would focus spending on domestic defense. I do not want war, but I don't believe that we can have a world without this technology existing. Thanks for taking the time to speak to the community, I know it is a touchy subject and everyone has a lot of valid reasons to be upset. I hope we can all have some discord and a bit of understanding in both directions. (2) sides to the story and the best solutions are usually somewhere in the middle.
Thanks Dax for putting this together! There’s so much mis-information and stereotyping going on out there right now over the things that have happened recently and people need to be made aware of what’s going on and not make assumptions.
People are nervous about the hobby being restricted because it may be turned into a weapon, just remind them that actual weapons are legal.
This was a video I was waiting for. Everything is the current world we live is so interconnected but many can’t see it.
I like to look at things from a logical point of view instead of an emotional one. Choices made on emotion are easy n the moment. Choices made after looking from every direction are rarely ever easy.
Rotor Riot is just the latest victim of cancel culture because before hearing their explanation, everyone has already made up their minds to boycott.
Big up, brother! I see you, and im grateful for you using your platform. 💪🏻